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Then did he spend full three months more in trudging on foot, and voyaging in the trekschuit, from Rotterdam to Amsterdam to Delft to Haerlem to Leyden to the Hague, knocking his head and breaking his pipe against every church in his road. Then did he advance gradually nearer and nearer to Rotterdam, until he came in full sight of the identical spot whereon the church was to be built.
The ruim, or forward cabin, occupying the greater part of the space, is appropriated to the common people, while the roef, or after-cabin, is for the better class; but as genteel people seldom patronize the trekschuit, this apartment is very small. It was drawn by horses, attached to a long rope made fast to the pole or mast, near the bow.
It was pleasant to see the rapidity with which the man on horseback and another man, who was always on guard, handled the cords to let the trekschuit pass, and how the two conductors made room for each other when two trekschuiten met, the one passing his rope under that of the other without speaking a word, without greeting each other even with a smile, as if gravity and silence were obligatory.
Esquiros defined it as "the genius of ancient Holland floating on the waters;" and, in fact, any one who has not travelled in a trekschuit is not acquainted with Dutch life under its most original and poetic aspect.
Suddenly the trekschuit emerged from the trees, and I saw before me an extended plain, a large woodland, and a city crowned with towers and windmills. It was the Hague. The boatman asked me to pay my fare, and received the money in a leather bag. The driver urged on the horse, and in a few minutes we were in town.
The trekschuit passes like a shadow through villages steeped in silence, glides along the canals bathed in the silver light of the moon, hides itself in the thickets, reappears in the open country, grazes the lonely houses from which beams the light of the peasant's lamp, and meets the boats of fishermen, which dart past like phantoms.
The walls of both rooms are covered with the autographs of visitors, including that of the Emperor of Russia. From this point the tourists were conveyed by the steamer to Waterland, from which they were to proceed by trekschuit to Broek. This peculiar craft is a kind of drag-boat, much used for passengers and light freight on the canals of Holland.
The houses on the way were mostly cottages, whose steep roofs were often twice the height of the walls. The stork, which the people cherish with a kind of superstitious reverence, was occasionally seen, but not so frequently as in the vicinity of The Hague, where he has a nest on the roof in a large proportion of the houses. The boys were much interested in the navigation of the trekschuit.
I was the only passenger, and did not have to wait long; the boatman made a sign, the tow-boy mounted his horse, and the trekschuit began to glide gently down the canal. It was about an hour past noon and the sun was shining brightly, but the boat passed along in the shade. The canal is bordered by two rows of linden trees, elms, willows, and high hedges on either side, which hide the country.
The boat that was to carry me to the Hague was moored near a bridge, in a little basin formed by the canal which leads from Delft to the Hague, and shaded by trees on the bank like a garden lake. The boats that carry passengers from town to town are called in Dutch trekschuiten. The trekschuit is the traditional boat, as emblematic of Holland as is the gondola of Venice.
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